“We are pursuing the issue. Acquiring information about her situation is important for us,” ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said Tuesday when asked if Dorothy Parvez was in Iran.

Ms. Parvez, who holds U.S., Canadian and Iranian passports, has been missing since she arrived in Damascus on assignment for Al-Jazeera on April 29.

There was no word from the Syrian authorities on her whereabouts until last Wednesday when the embassy in Washington said that she had been deported to Tehran after attempting to enter the country on an expired Iranian passport.

Mehmanparast echoed that account.

“She entered Syria on an invalid Iranian passport, did not have any work permit and was carrying other passports, American and Canadian,” he said, stressing that Iran does not recognize multiple nationality.

His comments came three days after Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said he had “no information” on the journalist’s whereabouts.

The Syrian embassy said Parvez was put on a flight to Tehran on May 1, escorted by the Iranian consul in Damascus, within “less than 48 hours of her arrival.” It said Parvez was turned over to Iran because she was carrying an expired Iranian passport when she arrived in Damascus, citing “tourism” as her reason for travel.

“It is very regretful that a journalist working for a world-renowned news agency such as Al-Jazeera International would attempt to enter a country on two illegal accounts — an expired passport, and by providing false information on official documents regarding her travel reason,” the embassy said.

Parvaz, 39, began working with Al-Jazeera in 2010. She was born in Iran but moved to Canada when she was 12.

Al-Jazeera appealed to Iran last week for the immediate release of Parvez. Both U.S. and Canadian authorities have expressed concern about her case.